Delegates at a meeting on Iraqi leadership sponsored by the US in mid-April

A prominent Iraqi general who defected to the West, Mr Khazraji is sometimes mentioned as a possible successor to Saddam Hussein - a leader with strong military connections who could take on the role of "strongman".

The CIA is reported to have helped him escape to the Gulf from house arrest in Denmark, where prosecutors were investigating his alleged role in gas attacks on the Iraqi Kurds.

His once close connections with the old regime may make him unacceptable to Iraqis as a whole.

Prince Hassan of Jordan, a Hashemite, is seeking a role as a UN ambassador to Iraq

The Hashemites, a family that traces its descent from the Prophet Muhammad, rule Jordan and ruled Iraq before the monarchy was deposed by a military coup in 1958.

Prince Raad, who describes himself as the "head of the Royal House of Iraq", openly backed the US campaign in Iraq.

Prince Hassan of Jordan is seen as an outside candidate among the royalists, and is related to two former kings of Iraq, King Faisal I and King Faisal II. He is pressing for a role as a UN ambassador to Iraq.

A third royalist contender might be the INC spokesman Sherif Ali bin Hussein, the leader of the Constitutional Monarchy Movement.

The number of Iraqis who actually support the return of the monarchy is probably very few, but there is some speculation that the Hashemites might help bridge sectarian divisions - they are Sunnis but revered by many Shia as descendants of the Prophet Muhammad.

Collective leadership:
In the absence of a candidate with impeccable credentials, a Hamid Karzai for Iraq, the US may try to build up a collective leadership - one which would represent Iraq's mosaic of different communities and command enough confidence to return the country to some sort of normality ahead of elections in a few years' time.

Local leaders:
While the US struggles with trying to draw out a new Iraqi leadership, local and tribal leaders are emerging to further muddy the waters.

In the south of the country, tribal Sheikhs are reported to have pre-empted the process by establishing local councils of their own, free of Baath party officials.

In the southern city of Basra, British forces have stirred up protest by appointing a former general and Baath Party official, who also claims to be an important tribal leader, to head a new local council. Further north, in the town of Kut, the US military is trying to remove a Shia cleric who, apparently with Iranian backing, has installed himself as the new mayor. In the capital Baghdad different figures are emerging suburb by suburb in an effort to end disorder and establish some form of local control.